


Silver and Gold

by htbthomas



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: At least the first steps toward one, Community: shipswap, Competition, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6639709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htbthomas/pseuds/htbthomas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Santiagos have always been winners—she couldn't let the family name down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver and Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mierke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mierke/gifts).



> Hope you like this, Mierke. :) Thanks to my beta, blithers!

"Sorry…" 

The door shuts in Amy's face. Or slams. Was that a slam? Whatever it is, people are shutting their doors so quickly in this building that she's starting to question her Scout training. What happened to the regional cookie sales champ of 1992? She's still in there, she knows it. Everything had been going so well until she started on this block.

Amy takes a deep breath. "Come on, don't give up, Santiago. You got this."

Her brother had called, begging her to help. "Maddie's got strep. She's _this_ close to taking the lead in her troop contest. You can sell cookies in your sleep."

The lead? "I'm interested." Santiagos have always been winners—she couldn't let the family name down. "There a prize involved? A bike or something?"

"iPad."

Amy had huffed. What kind of troop gave away electronic devices? Scouting was all about expanding your skill set, meeting new people, preparing to be future leaders! "I don't know…"

"I bet they'd love to have you come talk to the troop about being the top female detective in your precinct."

Amy's heart swelled with pride. He was playing her, but she didn't care. "Would they? I mean, um, fine. I'll do it. But just until she gets better." 

Now, looking down the third long hallway, she wonders if she'll have to keep selling after Maddie recovers. At last count, Maddie was still twenty-five boxes behind the current number one. She steps up to the first door on her left, and lifts her hand to rap on the wood.

"Go away."

That was rude. And a bit creepy. She knocks anyway, though she knows they already know she's there. "Hi, I'm Amy, with Girl Scout troop 2649 and I'm selling cookies. Would you like to buy some?"

"No. Go home." There's something familiar about the voice, but the thickness of the door muffles it.

"Come on, who doesn't love Thin Mints?" she presses, and does a little twirl with jazz hands in front of the peephole in the door. She doesn't care if she looks silly. Silly sells. "It's Girl Scout cookie time!"

"Samoas are better. Bye."

Huh. Something about the way the voice had said 'Samoas' pings recognition... "Wait, Rosa?"

"How'd you find me." The door still doesn't open.

The last time Amy had been to Rosa's place, in a completely different part of town, it had been... awkward. Like Amy was expected to read novels into each terse sentence Rosa spoke. And even Amy, an inveterate researcher, didn't even know in which section of the library to look in. Maybe Mystery, but that seemed too facile a comparison. 

They've always worked well together, but they've rarely spent time alone together outside of work. Was this a second chance? "Finding you was a total coincidence, I swear. Let me in, okay? We can go get dinner or something." 

"I don't need cookies and I'm not hungry."

Amy sighs. "Fine." She shouldn't get distracted from her true mission, anyway. "I'll just finish this building and be on my way."

She sets her shoulders, lifts her chin and begins to turn.

"No one else wants cookies, either."

Amy turns back. "That's where you're wrong, Rosa Diaz," Amy says, her nostrils flaring. " _Everyone_ wants Girl Scout Cookies. It's a fact of life. It's just you that’s somehow immune." She stalks away a few feet, then with a flash of remorse, calls out cheerily, "See you Monday!"

But Rosa is right. No one in the whole building wants cookies. As the last door is closing, she mumbles. "Darn Rosa…"

The door pauses. "Did you say Rosa?" The kindly older man pokes his head back out of the door. "In 5A?"

Amy turns back. So she's using her real name this time? "Yes, she's a friend of mine, and—"

"Oh!" He shoves some money at her. "Tell her I'll take five more boxes!" As soon as the money is in a very-surprised Amy's hands, the door shuts again. With a snap.

As soon as she realizes what this must mean, her eyes narrow. She fumbles for her phone in her purse and calls her brother. "Who is the selling leader right now?" she asks without preamble.

"I _hope_ it's Maddie right now—"

"It will be, I promise you, but who is she competing with?"

"Some girl named Emily Diaz."

Could be a niece, could be a cousin, it doesn't matter. The flame of competition, never truly extinguished, flares to life in her heart. "Thanks, tell Maddie that iPad is going to be all hers."

It is amazing what the mere mention of Rosa's name does. By the time she gets to Rosa's floor again, she's made more than the whole rest of the day combined. Fighting to keep a smug smile off her face, she raps hard on Rosa's door with one hand, wad of bills behind her back with the other. "Rosa! Open up!"

There is no answer at first. Has she _already_ packed up and moved, in less than an hour? No, it couldn't be. Amy raises up on tiptoe to peer through the peephole, even though she won't be able to see more than a blur. 

The hole darkens suddenly, and Amy hops back, startled. "I told you to go away, Santiago."

"Oh, I'm on my way…" She brings the money into view, fanning out the bills like a deck of cards. "Looks like Troop 2649 is gonna have a new top seller."

The door opens in a rush, showing an apartment attractively decorated in shades of green. But are those… boxes? When Rosa steps into the doorway to obscure the view, her face looks even more carved from stone than usual. "Who bought from you?"

Amy dances back, tucking the bills into her waistband. Then she leans forward and whispers, "Everyone."

Rosa's frown lines get deeper. "How."

"Superior salesmanship," Amy lies.

Rosa takes a step out into the hallway, toward Amy. " _How._ "

Amy stands firm. "I outmaneuvered you." 

Rosa takes another step, her nose inches from Amy's. "The entire building knows that this is Emily's turf."

Amy swallows and tries not to fidget like a guilty perp across the interrogation room table. "Not anymore."

Rosa is suddenly striding down the hall, knocking on her next-door-neighbor's door with ferocity. "Open up, Jones, you've got some explaining to do!"

"Rosa!" Amy pleads, running after her. "Stop! It wasn't his fault!"

Rosa halts, fist still upraised. "Oh?"

"I…" Amy hates to admit the truth, but she hates to see the innocent accused even more. "...I told him I was your friend." At Rosa's odd look, she adds stubbornly, "Which isn't a lie, is it?"

Rosa's fist lowers. "Of course it isn't." She nods at the money peeking out of Amy's waistband. "But that's mine. And Emily's."

"No. I may have traded on your, uh, good standing here, but I sold these myself. For Maddie."

One corner of Rosa's mouth turns up in a smirk. "Half."

Amy folds her arms across her chest. "Zero."

Rosa matches her stance for a few long, tense moments. Then she lets out a single laugh. "Keep it. You earned it for not backing down," she adds with a nod. "They'll give Emily twice as much when she comes back through with the orders and extra boxes." Rosa walks back to her apartment, nudging Amy with her elbow on the way past.

Amy smiles wide. She'd won! For now.

"What happened to your girl?" Rosa asks, stepping halfway into her doorway.

"Oh, strep throat. Yours?"

"Dress rehearsals." Rosa opens her door wider in invitation. "I've got a bottle of wine to finish up, you want some?"

Amy looks past Rosa into the apartment. There are boxes stacked in the corner. Maybe Rosa wants to toast the last night in this place before moving on again. But in Rosa's face there's something else—if Amy didn't know better, she'd think Rosa was blushing. 

Amy grins. "No sense in letting it go to waste."

They get Thai delivered and finish the bottle while a movie plays on Netflix. Then another—bottle and movie both. When Amy wakes up in the morning curled up on couch, she's pressed up against a sleeping Rosa. As quietly as she can, head stuffed full of cotton and mouth dry, she stumbles to the kitchen to get a glass of water. 

It's then that she notices it; there's something different. The boxes are gone.


End file.
